First of all, let me clarify that I mean the country Georgia, which borders in the North with Russia and to the South with Türkiye, Armenia and Azerbaijan. It’s a country with very friendly and welcoming people, at least that’s what I experienced two years ago. There is a very slow but genuine approach to life and the most reckless car drivers I’ve experienced. The nature is breathtaking and so are old buildings, ruins, caves. The capital Tbilisi is young, open, vibrant and back then when I visited, a city in transformation. Wine bars in old buildings with vintage, shabby chic interiors, very modern hotels with the most stunning bars and restaurants, where it’s impossible to leave hungry.
In Georgia, I had the impression, everything is about good produce. Cold pressed sunflower oil with a toasted, nutty flavour, ruby red tomatoes so juicy that you wish you’d get these back in Northern and Western Central Europe, too, wine, that’s been made based on hundred year old traditional methods. There certainly is a lot of food to keep you eating three times a day for 3 weeks, but let’s break it down to the 5 most important dishes you should eat in Tbilisi and in Georgia in general.
1. Khachapuri
Khachapuri is, depending on the region where it’s made (and there are over six different shapes and ways to make it), a bread made from yeast filled with cheese and other delicious stuff. The most common are the round Imeruli and the oval, boat-shaped Adjaruli. Khachapuri is filled with cheese, lots of cheese, always. The other toppings can vary from extra Feta, spinach, potatoes or other vegetables to an egg in the middle, with the yolk still being intact and runny. The latter filling is most common for the oval shaped Khachapuri, as for eating it, you mix the egg with the cheese and then dip the crust into it to eat. We often ordered it as a starter or snack, but considering its size it’s easily eaten as a full meal, too.
2. Sunflower oil
It’s weird to put sunflower oil on a to-eat list, but the Georgian one is something you certainly shouldn’t miss. It’s very different from your regular sunflower cooking oil, that has barely a colour, tastes very delicate and more like nothing and is mostly used for dishes that call for ‘neutral oil’. The sunflower oil I’ve tried in Tbilisi was nothing like that. It had a deep amber colour, almost like whisky, and was much thicker in its consistency. It’s taste was unbelievably rich, nutty and toasted and worked so amazingly well with not only the Georgian tomato salad, but also just for dipping bread into it, making pesto or simply pouring a few tablespoons over a handful of fresh vegetables. The secret to it is that it’s a virgin, non-refined and cold pressed oil and you can buy it at most markets in Tbilisi and some stores.
3. Tomatoes with crushed walnuts
There are a lot of walnuts in Georgia. Besides hiding plenty of them in a long strangely looking kind of candy sausage that’s covered in thickened grape juice (Churchkhela) and making eggplant and pomegranate savoury snacks from it, they also belong into a true Georgian salad. The ingredients vary from place to place, but most commonly it’s fresh tomatoes in wedges or slices with crunchy cucumber pieces, some onion and most importantly: a creamy walnut dressing. For this, walnuts are crushed very finely, together with garlic, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper and some water to thin out the sauce. Then, you mix cucumbers, tomatoes and red onions and dress them with the walnut dressing. I’ve seen recipes where coriander and parsley are added, too. I love to add a few splashes of the sunflower oil, to give the whole salad a deeper taste.
4. Khinkali
As Poland has their pierogi, in Russia it’s pelmeni, Japanese have Gyoza, Italians ravioli, Germans have their Maultaschen, so do the Georgians make Khinkali. The stuffed dumplings originated in the mountains of Georgia (which are beautiful and worth a visit as well) and are usually filled with minced meat like lamb, beef or pork, as well as onions and spices. They’re served cooked, sometimes with extra fresh black pepper and are shaped like little bags, twirled together on top. You eat them by first sucking out the juices inside the dumpling and only then eating the filling along with the skin. More and more alternative options, such as purely made from vegetables, of Khinkali can be found.
5. Wine
Whether wine is food is debatable, but it’s definitely something to try when in Georgia. The region most famous for wine is Kakheti, but also Adjara, Imereti, Kartli, Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti are known for its cultivation. Georgia is one of the oldest wine regions in the world and has a unique production method. A Kvevri, a large clay pot resembling an amphora and painted inside with beeswax, is characteristic for making wines in Georgia. In these, wine is fermented, aged and stored by being buried in the earth or set in cellars up until their neck. If you wish, you can call Georgian wine a natural one, as most of the time, the process depends on natural fermentation only, without added yeasts. Natural yeasts in the skin of the grapes are crucial for the fermentation of the grapes.
Another characteristic of Georgian wines is that the white wines are rather orange than white, resulting from skin maceration. This means that instead of removing the skins and separating them from the juice, they’re kept together for some time. It doesn’t only give the wine an orange colouring but also gives it a bolder, less sweeter taste with more tannins. The probably most famous grapes are the red Saperavi, the red Mujuretuli and the white Mtsvane.
